The Sage
by BrotherOfSteel
Summary: After humanity has almost disappeared, the last human whose destiny lies in this new world arrives at the edge of Equestria. Defying the very nature of the world to meet an old friend. Set in the story world of "The Conversion Bureau" by Blaze.
1. Chapter 1

_Will this work?_ He thought to himself as he stood at the edge of the "shield" of Equestria. _There's no reason it shouldn't_ he replied to himself, finally silencing every negative remark his brain could have and he began to step over the border fearing the worst. But nothing happened, despite the thousands of other cases of humans dying or exploding into flesh colored fluid he remained fine. Of course he knew why but he still had his qualms about whether or not this would work, after all 5 years of evidence that humans couldn't cross the shield told him otherwise despite him knowing what made him drastically different from them. The fear was good, it made him cautious and cautious had saved his life more than once out in the wastelands.

* * *

><p>"What's taking him so long?" thought Rainbow Dash out loud as she waited by the border.<p>

"Sorry, I had to work up the courage to risk my life by taking one step forward, a step most people might actually consider suicide. Took me a while to pluck up the courage to take it." Said a familiar voice behind her.

"DJ?" she said as much in shock at him being inside the shield, as much as him simply having returned as she turned around seeing her friend for the first time in a year.

"Yes, Dash" he replied smiling as wide as the Grand Canyon. "It's me, and no you're not dreaming I'm actually in Equestria. And I'm not dead or dying." He held his arms wide for the inevitable.

"YOU'RE ALIVE!' she yelled as she barreled into him hugging her old friend as hard as she could "What happened to you?"

"I had things that I had to attend to, and they required me to stop writing to you." He said apologetically hugging her back as much as she was hugging him.

"That's no excuse!" Dash said as she continued nearly suffocating him.

"It is when I had to maintain the secrecy behind it." DJ said laughing.

"So what's this secret? And why did you ask me to meet you here at the border?" Asked Rainbow Dash as she let him go and stepped back finally getting a good look at what her friend that still walked on two legs was wearing.

"You'll find out soon. And I wanted you to be the first one I met once I returned." He said smiling again. DJ was wearing a pair of jeans, he had never liked anything else, always saying "jeans are all purpose, I can't think of a single situation where they aren't worth wearing." A long sleeved black shirt and a vest of some kind over it, but the one of the oddest things he was wearing was the coat/robe kinda thing, it seemed like the ensemble piece of the whole get up, he wore it with the front open though it seemed like it was able to be worn with the whole front closed up and a head band with a symbol Dash had never seen before engraved on a piece of metal.

"Sort of an odd clothing choice for a human isn't it?" asked Dash as she looked him over.

"Hahahaha!, you'll see the significance of it soon enough." he said. Ruffling her mane like he used to do in the old days.

"So why are you back now?" she asked

"It was the time for me to finally return." He said simply "And besides it's not like I can ever resist seeing you totally dumbstruck." He was grinning like a fox again

"Oh shut up!" Dash responded hitting him softly on the shoulder with her hoof.

"Ohh no! You might have broken my arm!" he said in mock alarm in the way that only old friends could find funny.

"I did not you big baby!" she shouted, trying to hold back a laugh "And, maybe if you had written even ONCE I might not have had to hit you at all."

Time for a bit of backstory, Dash and DJ had met two and half years ago back when he still used to live in New York. She had clipped a building one day while she was delivering mail causing her to spin out of control; her uncontrolled fall caused her to run into him, literally, and ended up breaking two of his ribs while his body had saved her life. She had went to visit him in the hospital and she found him to be the most likable human she had ever met, and he found her to be the most interesting and fun pony he had ever met and the two had been good friends ever since.

"Don't worry Dash you were the only one I thought of writing to when I was going to come back." He said finally stopping the charade of over dramatically clutching his arm.

"Not even your famil-"dash started to say, and then covered her mouth up with her hooves suddenly realizing what she had started talking about.

There were very few topics that were taboo between the two friends, and one of them was DJ's family who had left him to undergo ponification at one of the bureaus three years ago. He personally disliked the idea of ponification saying that it required him to give up what he had a born right to. Despite his obvious differences with his family he continued to write to them constantly even when he had left the cities to wander the un-occupied rest of the U.S. with others who had refused ponification. Sending them handwritten letters and pictures to let them know he was OK in the violent world left behind the wake of "mass exodus" as he called it. Up until the day he had disappeared a year ago and stopped writing letters to anyone altogether.

"No, not even my family Dash" he said sighing knowing exactly why Rainbow Dash had reacted so suddenly to that topic. She had brought it up exactly once, back in the first few weeks when they had first met. And he had nearly scared her away with the cold anger that had consumed him when he had thought of them. Of course after that he apologized almost endlessly and asked her to never bring it up again. Naturally she never did, not wanting to risk their friendship over her curiosity.

"Sorry." she said as she lowered her hooves, an expression of worry on her face.

"It's OK. I got over that a while ago, I'm not quite as uncomfortable talking about it as I used to be. Especially not with me being one of like 20 humans still left on the planet." He said smiling reassuring her she hadn't done something wrong in the first ten minutes of meeting one of her best friends that she hadn't seen in a year.

"So why are you in Equestria? Never mind that, more importantly HOW are you in Equestria?" Dash asked a completely confused expression on her face.

"Well to the first I'm here to go meet with Celestia in a week, and as for the second you'll find out in time." DJ answered.

"Ohhhh you know I hate waiting!" Dash shouted, her impatience showing.

"Of course I know, but since when have I ever not taken the opportunity to see how long you can take waiting for something?" He said grinning.

"Never." Rainbow Dash grumbled. Her curiosity as to how her friend was able to be in Equestria dominating everything else in her mind.

"Sorry Dash but I seriously can't tell you until I talk to Celestia, she doesn't want anypony to know until she hears it herself." He said seeing her crestfallen expression. "On the upside, I have to stay in Ponyville for a couple days while the princess gets things sorted out for my arrival. Didn't you say you've always wanted to introduce me to your friends?"

"Of course I do!" Dash shouted suddenly energetic and rising up into the air," I've always wanted to have you meet them but they all live in Ponyville and well, back then I didn't think you could come there. But now that you can I definitely want you to meet them! Let's get going!" she shouted as she prepared to shoot off towards her home.

"Um, Dash? I don't know if you noticed but despite me being in Equestria I still don't have wings." DJ said.

"Oh that's right. Sorry it's been so long since I've had to wait up for somebody." Rainbow Dash said as she landed.

"Is that a challenge?" DJ asked smiling again.

"What do you think?" she answered matching his smile.

"You're on. Even though you have an unfair advantage." He said taking off running down the road with the sign that said Ponyville pointing down it.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "No head starts cheater!"

"Hey! I only have two legs remember?" DJ shouted back laughing the entire time.

Rainbow Dash chased after her old friend thinking to herself _I've got more than just my friends over there in Ponyville you just wait DJ I've got surprise that'll make you speechless!_


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey! Wait!" Dash shouted as the two began to near Ponyville.

"What?" DJ asked, sliding to a stop. breathing heavily from the run. "You afraid you're gonna lose?"

"No," Rainbow Dash responded "I never lose. But I am kinda worried about what'll happen if a human just randomly shows up in Ponyville. It's not like it's a common thing."

DJ thought about it for a moment "Good point." He conceded.

"Then what do you plan on doing?" he asked

"I don't know I need to get some advice from my friends, and I'd rather have them come out to meet you separately. They're probably the only ones in Ponyville who have seen a human before." Dash said hovering in place.

"Fine, you just want me to wait out here then?" DJ asked.

"Yeah that'd be perfect. I'll be back soon!" Dash shouted as she flew off towards town

_And besides I need to figure out how to make sure_ 'they' _don't see him….. this is gonna be harder than I originally thought _Dash thought to herself as she was flying.

"hm, guess I can finally catch up on my sleep." DJ said to himself as he laid down under a tree on the side of the road. _I wonder when she'll get back…._was his last thought before passing out.

* * *

><p>He was about to completely fall asleep when he awoke to something poking him, he was about to open his eyes when he heard an unfamiliar voice.<p>

"Do you think it's alive?" the voice asked

"Of course it is silly it's been breathing this whole time." Replied a second one

"What do you think it is?" the first voice asked

"I have no idea." A third voice answered

"Ya know constantly referring to someone as "it" is kinda insulting." DJ finally said opening his eyes, Standing in front of him were three fillies with their mouths wide open in shock at him speaking.

"Hi, my names DJ." He said holding his hand up and smiling, half wondering if they would bolt

"Ap-Apple Bloom" said the cream colored earth pony with a red mane and bow

"Nice to meetcha Apple Bloom. What're you fillies doin this far outside of town?" DJ asked

"We're trying to get our cutie marks!" shouted the orange pegasus jumping up in the air and hovering in place "Oh and the name's Scootaloo "she added.

"And I'm Sweetie Belle!" piped up the last one, a white unicorn.

"Nice to meet y'all" He said lowering his hand and standing up, towering over the fillies.

"So what are you mister?" Asked Apple Bloom, who seemed to be the most curious of the three.

"Hm? oh well I'm a..." He started to say, then paused remembering his conversation with Dash about not letting anypony know until her friends got here. _Well they're just fillies, it can't hurt to just tell them right?_ " ... a human."

"What?" said Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom their eyes shooting to the size of dinner plates

"Woah, no way! That's so cool!" Scootaloo shouted. her excitement plain on her face.

"Y-You really think so?" Asked DJ. this was totally different from the reactions he thought he would get.

"Of course! I've never met a human before, well I've met plenty that are ponies now. But never one like you!"

"Well, thanks."

"But I heard my sister and twilight talking about how humans COULDN'T come to Equestria." said Sweetie Belle, confused

"Yes that's true Sweetie Belle. Humans can't come into Equestria or they get... sick." DJ said. _technically not a lie_ he thought to himself, feeling that the truth was far too brutal for these fillies to handle.

"But you're here." said Apple Bloom.

"Yeah I am, I'm well... different from most humans."

"Different?" all three asked at once

"Well I'm not affected by the magic that's everywhere in Equestria, most humans can't handle it." He answered

"Wow, really? Its never made a difference to anypony I've ever met." Apple Bloom said.

"Well then again, I'm willing to bet you've never met anypony that didn't grow up here."

"Yeah that's true, but I've met you! So now I do know somepony who isn't from Equestria." Apple Bloom piped up her smile making DJ's heart melt, _these three are just too damn cute_ he thought remembering he hadn't seen any kids for at least 3 years, at least not since the HLF attacks.

"Hey mister! I've got a lot of questions that I've always wanted to ask but every time I try to ask a pony who used to be a human, everypony tells me it's really rude to ask them about their past." Scootaloo said hovering over to DJ's face, stopping only a few inches from him.

"Well not all humans want to remember their pasts, Scootaloo. Some would rather forget all about it, deny that they were ever human and move on." DJ's smile faded as he spoke, he then realized what he was doing and recovered, "Sorry, had a lot on my mind lately if you've got questions go ahead and ask them I'll answer them best I can." the reassuring smile returning to his face " Oh, and call me DJ, I never did like being called mister."

"OK DJ." Scootaloo replied matching his smile with one of her own and finally coming down to ground level. " I've heard you humans can breathe fire when you're angry is that true?"

"No, I wish it was though, certainly would've come in handy"

"Can you break a tree in half with your bare hands?"

"No"

"I heard you guys turn into monsters when you get angry" Apple Bloom said interrupting Scootaloo before the young pegasus could get off another question, all three fillies were starting to get really interested in the new human they had found outside of their hometown.

"Kinda, we really only change in our eyes. It's hard to explain." DJ said. his stomach then growled loudly enough for all four to hear, and he was reminded he hadn't eaten since yesterday. "Sorry, haven't eaten in a while." he laughed.

"Well would you want an apple?" Apple Bloom asked. " I've got plenty in my bag and you seem like you could use something good to eat."

"Yeah that'd be great, thanks a lot."

Apple Bloom reached into her bag and pulled out a shiny red apple in her teeth. " Thanks" He said as he took it from her, he wiped it quickly on his shirt and bit into it. It was seriously the best apple he'd ever tasted and it was unnaturally filling. Not like talking to three young ponies about his own nearly extinct race wasn't unnatural, he'd learned long ago to abandon whatever sense of normal he had once possessed and to just take things as they come.

"Wow, this is really, REALLY good. Where'd you get this from?" He asked as he took another bite into the apple.

"Well it came from my family's farm, Sweet Apple Acres. My family makes a ton of stuff with these apples and I'm sure if you ever came they'd love to meet you." Apple Bloom said

"I might have to take you up on that offer sometime Apple Bloom. if your family's anywhere near as nice as you three I'd be more than willing to come meet them."

"Enough about apples! I wanna hear more about you humans!" Scootaloo was starting to get impatient, she might never get another opportunity to get her questions answered.

"OK then back to what we were talking about earlier, what else do you want to know?" DJ asked sitting down so that he could be at their same height.

This answering of questions went on for about half an hour, DJ was more than happy to answer the questions Scootaloo, Apple bloom, and Sweetie Belle showered him with.

"So wait, you use MACHINES to fly?" Scootaloo asked incredulous

"Yep, and we made some pretty good ones back in the day, we may not look it but there's quite a lot of us who love flying. Even though we don't have wings like you do." DJ said.

"Wow, I never would've thought humans could ever want to fly. I just heard you were all did bad things, that that was the whole reason why you guys wanted to be turned into ponies. So you wouldn't have to do that stuff anymore." Sweetie Belle commented.

"Well yeah there were some of us who were bad... but most of us were good." DJ said standing up and stretching.

"Hey you guys, you know what we should do now? We should go to Sugarcube corner and get some treats!" Scootaloo said excited as ever.

"Yeah!" the other two agreed in unison.

"Hey. you should come too DJ! You'd love it, they've got all sorts of stuff I'm sure you'll like." Apple Bloom said hopefully

"Ummm I-I don't know I'm supposed to be waiting here..." He said weakly

"Awww pleassseeeeeee" said Scootaloo, giving him the puppy dog eyes treatment

_I'm gonna have to learn to deal with all this cuteness... Dash is gonna kill me_ DJ thought to himself, he sighed thought for a moment then finally relented, " OK I'll come."

"Yayyyy!" The three fillies shouted "Don't worry I'm sure the everypony in Ponyville will like you, I mean we're all friends now right? And how bad can you be if WE'RE friends with you." Sweetie Belle said.

"I'm sure you're all great judges of character." DJ said grinning.

"Well OK then, lets go!" Shouted Apple Bloom as the four started walking into Ponyville.

* * *

><p>"OK Pinkie Pie, I understand you want to have a party for him, but can't it wait until later?" Rainbow dash asked, she was almost at her wits end. Earlier she had been wondering how she was gonna find all of her friends quickly fortunately Fluttershy had been flying around Ponyville when Rainbow had first flown into town. Then She had found Twilight easily enough, that egghead was almost always in her library. And Applejack was as usual tending to her farm and thankfully it wasn't that hard to convince to come with. However, Rarity was in the middle of something, and said that her work was too important to be left just sitting there and asked Dash and the others to wait while she finished up. and there was Pinkie Pie who took seemingly forever to find and then the instant she heard that she would be meeting Rainbow Dash's friend she of course started getting a party put together.<p>

"Awww fine, you party pooper!" The pink pony said

"OK fine you can have one AFTER you meet him." Dash relented feeling bad about deflating the pony's otherwise jubilant mood.

"YAYYYYYY!" Pinkie Pie shouted obviously pleased by Dash's permission to have yet another party.

"Ughhh is Rarity finished yet? I'm getting tired of waiting." Rainbow asked fuming over the delay.

"I'm right here Rainbow, sorry for taking so long but getting those threads done was just crucial." said the white unicorn

"I'm sure" the blue pegasus said dryly Her mood was slightly uplifted by the fact that now all of her friends were finally ready but she was still nervous as she had no idea where Sunset was and the most important thing of this whole day was that DJ didn't see her and vice versa because if that happened everything would get thrown to hay. At least DJ wouldn't be walking through Ponyville.

"Hey, what is that?" Twilight asked looking off at the the entrance to Ponyville.

"I don't see wha-" Dash stopped in mid sentence feeling as her stomach seemed to just fall 20 feet. Walking up the road into Ponyville was DJ with what appeared to be Apple Bloom sitting on his shoulders with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle trotting along. the four seemed to be having a laugh about something or other. DJ was smiling as he talked and the three fillies appeared to be totally enraptured with what he was saying. _ohonononononononononononono this isn't good!_ Dash started to panic.

"Is that a human?" Rarity asked shocked as the rest

"I think so Rarity, but that's impossible no human should be able to pass through the shield." Twilight responded, sounding more confused than shocked

"Well then Ah' think we should go see what in tarnation is going on... wait is that... APPLE BLOOM with him?" Applejack shouted then very suddenly ran off concerned for her younger sibling, the other five ponies soon followed suit.

* * *

><p>"-so then as she tried to find out what was going on she then decided to sit down on the spare one which was even worse, because Jackson had rigged it with.." The ponies heard DJ saying as they approached.<p>

He stopped speaking once he noticed the veritable stampede heading towards him _Well here goes nothing_ he thought as he steeled himself for whatever came next.

"Hey you! what do ya' think you're doin with my little sister? And Apple Bloom you get down from there right this second!" Applejack said visibly angry

"Awww but sis, DJ was just about tell us how he pranked his friends back when they were all still together!" Apple Bloom said disappointed

"Apple Bloom. Down. Now." Applejack's voice did not brook argument.

"But-" Apple Bloom started to say

"Its OK Apple Bloom, you'd best listen to your sister, she's just looking out for you after all." DJ interrupted reaching up and picking Apple Bloom off his shoulders and placing her gently on the ground.

" But I was having so much fun." She said crestfallen

"I know, me too." He said smiling, crouching down and ruffling her mane " But I think you three should go on ahead I've got to talk with these ponies first. I'll meet you at sugarcube corner soon."

"Promise?" Scootaloo asked

"Of course."

Satisfied with his promise, the three fillies set off.

DJ turned to the group of six ponies left and caught Dash's eye, she nodded and flew over to him just as twilight was asking" OK now I think it's time for an explanation, Who are you?"

DJ just looked at Rainbow Dash who seemed almost as nervous as Fluttershy during a thunderstorm, she finally gathered the courage to speak " Well this is the reason I wanted you guys here, I'd like you to meet my friend DJ."

DJ held up a hand in greeting "Hey."

**A/N: Jeeze this chapter turned out a LOT longer than I was planning on it being, but then again it didn't feel right ending it at any other point. Anyways, If you liked what's goin on so far Chapter three is already under construction. If any of you are confused to what exactly the setting is, its 5 years after the bureaus first opened so basically every human is either dead or ponified. There might be a couple left SOMEWHERE but for all intents and purposes DJ is supposed to be the last true human. Oh and any feedback is much appreciated :)  
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